Pill dispenser having a permanently attached dispensing mechanism



y 7, 1969 G. J. THOMPSON 3,446,3 9

PILL DISPENSER HAVING A PERMANENTLY ATTACHED DISPENSING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 21, 1967 INVEN T02 60200 J 7/7a/vpso/v ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,446,339 PILL DISPENSER HAVING A PERMANENTLY ATTACHED DISPENSING MECHANISM Gordon J. Thompson, 621 Running Water Circle SE., Albuquerque, N. Mex. 87112 Filed Aug. 21, 1967, Ser. No. 663,197 Int. Cl. B65d 83/04 US. Cl. 20642 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a container and dispenser for dosages of medication or the like and more particularly to a medication container having a dispenser means permanently attachable thereto for dispensing said dosages of medication in a particular order. In accordane with further objects of the invention, a device is provided which is safe and hygienic as well as easily and simply operable, and which is relatively simple and inexpensive to construct.

It should be noted that while the device of this invention is particularly suited to holding and dispensing dosages of medication, it may be used for other purposes, and the word dosages as used herein refers to any unit or separable quantity of the material contained in the device.

Many pill dispensers have been provided which dispensed a certain number of pills in a regular order, and some of these dispensers are designed to prevent reversal of said order. However, it is found that it is often desirable for hygienic purposes to have a dispenser for medication wherein each compartment holding said medication is opened and exposed only once, and cannot be reopened or refilled. Since drug companies often apply their name to a pill dispenser, this feature also serves to prevent the fraudulent sale of medication by one drug company in the container of another, or the fraudulent substitution of drugs for other kinds of drugs by some pharmacists and others. According to this invention, once the drugs have been placed into the container and the dispenser is attached by rotation, the dispenser cannot be removed and the container cannot be reopened or refilled, without destruction of a portion of the device.

An important feature of the invention is in the provision of a container means having an attachable dispenser means which cannot be removed after attachment to the container means and use therewith.

Another important feature of this invention relates to the provision of means for dispensing the drugs in a particular order, which may not be altered or reversed.

A further feature of the invention relates to the provision of means for stopping the action of the dispenser means when a certain number of dosages have been dispensed.

A still further feature of this invention relates to the provision of means for locking the dispenser means in a fixed and inactive position relative to the container means.

This invention contemplates other objects, features and advantages which will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which illustrate preferred 3,446,339 Patented May 27, 1969 ice embodiments and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the container portion of a pill dispenser constructed according to the principles of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the underside of a dispenser portion of a pill dispenser arranged for attachment to the container portion of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of the dispenser portion of FIGURE 3, taken along the line IIIIII thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a top plan view of a pill dispenser according to the invention, formed by attaching the dispenser portion of FIGURES 2 and 3 to the container portion of FIGURE 1 and FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional view of the dispenser of FIGURE 4, taken substantially along line VV thereof.

Reference numeral 10 generall designates a pill dispenser constructed according to the principles of this invention and shown in the accompanying drawings. The pill dispenser 10 comprises a container portion 11 and a dispenser portion 12 which also serves as a top or lid to the container portion 11 and which has an opening 13 in a planar wall 14 through which pills are dispensed from the dispenser 10. The dispenser 10 is preferably molded of a transparent plastic material. The dispenser portion 12 is shown upside down in FIGURES 2 and 3 and is flipped over to fit on the container portion 11.

The dispenser portion 12 has a tab 16 extending from a peripheral downwardly extended flange portion 17, and said tab 16 has an outwardly extending projection 18 at the terminal end thereof. Three generally wedge-shaped tabs 21 are molded onto and extend from the wall 14 of the dispenser portion 12 near its outer edge 17, and six spring tabs 22-27 also extend from the portion 12 and are arranged in a circle thereon. The spring tabs 22-27 have small outwardly protruding rib portions 22a-27a on the outer surfaces thereof, and tabs 22, 24 and 27 also have small lugs 31-33 protruding outwardly therefrom. Although not shown in the drawings, it should be noted that any number of words or symbols may and often are molded or imprinted on the plastic of the dispenser 12.

The container portion 11 is generally cylindrical in shape and has a plurality of compartments 35 arranged in a circle therein, the compartments 35 being separated by one another by walls 36 having top edges 37. A generally cylindrical outer peripheral wall 38 of the container 11 has a catch 41 molded thereon, said catch 41 having a radially extending back portion 42 and a side portion 43 generally parallel to the outer wall 38 with an inwardly extending shoulder 44 at an upper edge of the side portion 43.

A relatively flat top wall 46 extends inwardly from an inner cylindrical wall 47 of the compartments 35 to a generally circular edge portion 49 having three notches 51-53 therein and forming a generally circular opening in the center of the top wall 46. Directions for use of the dispenser 10 along with numbers for the compartments 35 are shown imprinted on the transparent plastic top wall 46. It should be noted that a Wall 56 is provided to seal off one compartment in the circle of compartments 35 to prevent placing of a pill therein and to serve as a starting point for positioning the opening 13 in the dispenser portion 12 when it is positioned on the container portion 11.

In operation of the dispenser 10, pills are placed in the compartments 35 and the dispenser portion 12 is placed on the container portion 11 so that the lugs 31-33 align with the indentations 51*53 of the edge portion 49 of top wall 47, the opening 13 is over the compartment 56, and the tab 16 is displaced in a clockwise direction as viewed from above, from the catch 41. The lugs 31-33 and the notches 51-53 are not equi-angularly spaced and align only in this position of the dispenser portion 12 relative to the container portion 11. The dispenser portion 12 is then pressed toward the container portion 11 until the ribs 22a-27a of the spring tabs 22-27 slip beneath the edge portions 49 of the top wall 46 of container portion 11. The two portions 11 and 12 are then held firmly together in the position described.

When the dispenser portion 12 rotated in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1 to dispense the first pill from a first one of the compartments 35 adjacent the compartment closed by wall 56, the lugs 31-33 are journalled under the edge portion 49 and are held securely thereby, and the wedge-shaped tabs 21 move from certain of the compartments 35 over the walls 36 to adjacent ones of the compartments 35. Blunt edges 60 of the tabs 21 will strike against the dividing walls 36 of the compartments 35 to prevent a reversal of direction of rotation. of the dispenser portion 12. The lugs 3133 prevent removal of the dispenser portion 12 from container portion 11, and the two portions are permanently attached together.

When the dispenser portion 12 is rotated clockwise until all of the pills have been dispensed, the tab 16 strikes the back wall portion 42 of the catch 41 to prevent further rotation, and the inwardly extending shoulder 44 of the side portion 43 of catch 41 engages the outwardly extending projection 18 of the tab 16 to further and more securely lock the two portions 11 and 12 together.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be eiIected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of this invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a device for holding a plurality of discrete dosages of medication or the like and for periodically dispensing one of said discrete dosages, container means for holding said discrete dosages in spaced apart relation, and dispenser means attachable to said container means and constructed to be permanently secured thereto after attachment, said container means and said dispenser means providing an enclosure for said discrete dosages, said dispenser means being systematically movable relative to said container means to sequentially allow release of each of said discrete dosages from said device, said container means having a plurality of compartments for holding said plurality of discrete dosages in spaced relation, and said device containing means for opening said compartments one at a time to allow dispensing of said discrete dosages therefrom, and lock means for locking said dispenser means and said container means in fixed relative positions after a certain number of said compartments have been opened.

2. In a device as defined in claim 1, said plurality of compartments being arranged with one compartment adjacent another in a circular configuration about an axis, each compartment having an open end and a side wall and common with an adjacent compartment, with the top edges of all side walls lying in a common plane, said dispenser means having a generally planar wall in flexible pressured contact with said top edges, and said planar wall having a generally wedge-shaped member extending normally therefrom and projecting into an opened end of one of said compartments, said wedge-shaped member being positioned to allow rotation of said dispenser means about said axis in one direction but not in the opposite direction, relative to said container means.

3. In a device as defined in claim 1, said container means being generally cylindrical in shape about an axis and having an outer generally cylindrical lateral wall with a generally planar end edge, said dispenser means having a generally circular planar wall disposed normally to said axis and rotatable about said axis and in slideable contact with said end edge of said container means, and said lock means comprising a tab extending from the outer edge of said generally planar wall in slideable contact with said lateral wall, and a catch afiixed on said lateral wall and positioned to contact said tab at a certain rotational position of said planar wall relative to said lateral wall to prevent further relative rotation thereof.

4. In a device as defined in claim 3, said tab having an outwardly extending projection thereon, and said catch having an inwardly extending shoulder positioned to slidably contact said projection to further lock said dispenser means to said container means. 5. In a device as defined in claim 3, said catch having an inwardly extending shoulder thereon, and said tab having an outwardly extending projection positioned to be journallcd in slidable contact under said rim of said catch to hold said dispenser means in slidable contact with said container means.

6. In a device for holding a plurality of discrete dosages of medication or the like and for periodically dispensing one of said discrete dosages, container means for holding said discrete dosages in spaced apart relation, and dispenser means attachable to said container means and constructed to be permanently secured thereto after attachment, said container means and said dispenser means providing an enclosure for said discrete dosages, said dispenser mean being systematically movable relative to 30 said container means to sequentially allow release of each of said discrete dosages from said device, said container means having a plurality of compartments for holding said plurality of discrete dosages in spaced relation, said device containing means for opening said compartments to allow dispensing of said discrete dosages therefrom in a certain fixed order, said plurality of compartments being arranged with one compartment adjacent another in a circular configuration about an axis, each compartment having an open end and a side wall and common with an adjacent compartment, with the top edges of all side walls lying in a common plane, said dispenser means having a generally planar wall in flexible pressured contact with said top edges, and said planar wall having a generally wedge-shaped member extending normally a therefrom and projecting into an open end of one of said compartments, said wedge-shaped member being positioned to allow rotation of said dispenser means about said axis in one direction but not in the opposite direction, relative to said container means.

' 7. In a device as defined in claim 6, said container means including a wall having a generally circular opening therein with at least one notch in said opening, and said dispenser means having a protruding lug thereon positioned to be movable through said notch on initial attachment of said dispenser means to said container means.

8. In a device as defined in claim 7, said dispenser means being rotatable relative to said container means to allow release of said discrete dosages from said de- 60 vice, and said lug means being slidably journalled under said wall of said container means to secure said container means to said dispenser means.

References Cited 65 UNITED STATES PATENTS STANLEY H. TOLLBERG, Primary Examiner. 

